When we're finally done with Iraq, in one way or another, can we please stop having to stand at freakin' attention during the 7th inning stretch? We have a perfectly serviceable national anthem, and the whole 'God Bless America' thing adds a thin veneer of iconography in a place where it's just not needed.

"Sympathy is something that shouldn't be bestowed on the Yankees. Apparently it angers them." - Bob Feller

Quoting Yellowstone (Reply 1):Or we could mix it up a bit, sing "This Land Is Your Land" or something like that. Give God a chance to go bless Burma, or Patagonia, or wherever.

Or we could follow a hundred years of tradition and sing "Take me out to the Ball Game" and get back to playing baseball. Look, I'm as patriotic as anyone else. I served my country in the Air Force and I am proud of it. I'm a card carrying member of the VFW and the American Legion and proud of that. If I donate money to any charity, its to Veterans Groups. To take it further I'm a flag saluting MFer if you will.

However, if I want to be an overboard Patriot, let me do it on my own terms. Don't force it upon me. Look, I like most Americans turn to sports amd sporting events as a way to relax, to forget about life for awhile and to enjoy the simplicity of playing a game. I am all about playing the National Anthem at the start of the game. Its a great way toshow tribute to everything we take for granted every day. I'm all for having a moment of silence for all the local war heros who have given their lives for their countries and for all the others as well. But after that, give me my relacation. Give me my game. Let me enjoy my beer, my hotdog, my peanuts and my 7th inning stretch without having to have the National Anthem Part II. I paid tribute as I should have, not let me enjoy the game. Don't interupt my getaway with more depressing shit.

Quoting LHMARK (Thread starter):When we're finally done with Iraq, in one way or another, can we please stop having to stand at freakin' attention during the 7th inning stretch? We have a perfectly serviceable national anthem, and the whole 'God Bless America' thing adds a thin veneer of iconography in a place where it's just not needed.

Aren't they only singing God Bless America in New York these days? I have been to 13 ball parks in the last three years, and Yankee Stadium and that other crap box in New York were the only places that I heard it.

This thing with National Anthem II sounds more like nationalism and not patriotism. I recall that when the Bundesliga season started, we, for the first time, started the game with our national anthem and this may become a tradition for the opening game of the season, just as it is during the DFB-Cup final in Berlin.

That being said, playing "patriotic" songs before the "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" song just doesn't make sense. For me, it's just too nationalistic. I have no problems with healthy patriotism, but National Anthem II during the 7th Inning stretch is just not patriotic. Nationalism must never be confused with patriotism because a patriot is someone who genuinely loves his country, while nationalists are people who take a probably misguided sense of patriotism to almost dangerous extremes.

Just let the traditions of the many sports that exist alone. If during the 7th Inning stretch the song that is to be sung or at least played is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", so be it. National anthems belong only to the beginning of a game.